Supreme Court's Uber decision

The Court of Cassation approved the court decision, and the decision to suspend Uber’s activities and block access on the grounds that “unfair competition occurred” became final. The 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation stated that the reasons put forward by the defendants’ lawyers in their appeal petitions in the main and consolidated cases were not of a nature that required the decision to be overturned, and approved the decision made by the local court. Regarding Uber, which started to be used in Istanbul in 2014 and received service from 5 million users in Turkey, “unfair competition” lawsuits were filed with the Istanbul 10th and 11th Commercial Courts of First Instance by the United Taxi Drivers Association and the Istanbul Automobile Tradesmen Chamber on behalf of taxi drivers in Istanbul, requesting that access to Uber be blocked and the company be banned from Turkey. The plaintiffs also requested that the activities of the US company Uber Technologies Inc. be stopped. In the taxi drivers' petitions, it was claimed that the US-based company, which does not have any tax records in Turkey, was conducting illegal online transportation, and all of Uber's activities were requested to be halted in order to prevent taxi drivers from suffering irreparable damages, to protect competition and trade, to prevent tax losses in the country, and to restore commercial life. The decision was finalized on October 16, 2019, and then an appeal was filed. The cases were later combined by the Istanbul 10th Commercial Court of First Instance, which made its final decision on October 16, 2019, at the end of the trial process where expert reports were received and discussions took place, and accepted the request to block access to Uber and ban the company from Turkey. The court panel ruled that Uber's services constituted unfair competition, that unfair competition be prohibited, and that access to "www.uber.com" and the Uber mobile applications and Uber XL service, where Uber services are offered, be blocked. Uber's activities in Turkey were halted with the decision. An appeal was filed to overturn the decision.